Hidden Secrets
Carson clutched the small notebook in his hand. After years of gathering dust and mold in a steamer trunk in his grandfather’s basement, it now saw the light of day for the first time in fifty years. He blew away the dust and thumbed through the brittle pages. The notebook, once owned by a bank robber in the 1950’s, found its way into his grandfather’s possession. His grandpa frequented auctions and estate sales and Carson guessed Pap picked it up with other boxes of junk he toted home on a regular basis. Over the years, Carson’s grandfather shared stories scribbled in the little black notebook, including an entry about a bank heist and the thieves burying a sizable sum of money in the Blue Ridge Mountains, of Tar Heel Country. Law enforcement records reported Highway Patrolmen nabbed Jeb Johnson and his brother Jeremiah shortly after the theft. A third suspect eluded capture and remained on the lam. Federal authorities plastered “Wanted” posters in every post office all along the Eastern Seaboard with the picture of a silhouette. The posting urged the population to come forward with information, any tidbit to identity the third perpetrator. Decades later, the likelihood of the criminal still living was slim. No one knew if the money ever surfaced. Possibly, no one ever would. As a child, Carson begged to read the notebook himself, but his grandpa kept it in hiding until his grandson was older.